Small Fawn, Huge Eyes, Plenty of Cute

Well, here’s a wildlife video quickie. I hope my narrative is a little better than the previous video. I hopefully won’t suck nearly as bad in this one. Let me know how it sounds. At least I don’t sound like I’m high on 10 cans of high octane coffee this time. Then again, I don’t want to sound like Ben Stein either.

About a month ago I was walking around in the Creek that runs through the back of the ranch property I live on off of Thurston Rd in Springfield. Along a few spots of the creek there are a couple of tiny islands with square footage about the same as a large greyhound bus, maybe a little bigger. Lining the outer edge of one particular little island was a patch of blackberry bushes with a small gap in between in which to access the rest of the small island.

I had crossed the first portion of the creek and started to go through that small gap in the patch of blackberry bushes. As soon as I had popped out onto the other side, I had accidentally startled a young doe. The doe hopped away only a few dozen feet then stopped to look at me. Then I realized something. This young doe is a mother.

Laying not even 10 feet from me was a small fawn just barely a few days old or so. The little fawn was kind of both laying and standing in an awkward position, keeping extremely still. When a fawn this young senses movement they will most of the time drop to their bellies like a trained soldier. Sometimes, they will just collapse like a pile of sticks and will not move from even the most awkward position. If they are old enough to be curled up in the typical "cute fawn" position, they will hold as still as the earth, keeping their heads up and alert or tucked down if that was their posture when they spotted trouble. Some might bolt at a thing's approach, but others, usually those who are only hours to a few days old, will hold tight. Unfortunately, it has been a known fact that a small fawn like this one will hold tight even when there’s farm equipment or even mowing machines passing over the top of them. Luckily for this fawn I caught on video, it is in no such danger.

After getting a few quick video shots of the fawn, I slowly backed away and left the small island. I didn’t want to stress the young mother doe or the fawn.

If you would like to see more of the wildlife I’ve captured on video here in the Willamette Valley, you can find them on my YouTube channel at http://www.YouTube.com/user/WilliamSage

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